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Spiritual Evolution : 



Ibow 1bumanit$ is Developed by ©beoience 
to flnevitable Xaws. 



REVISED EDITION 
BY S W W.FRANCE 



/<tfrt 0F Co *S*X 



NEW YORK : 
1894. 



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COPYRIGHT, 1894, 

BY S. W. FRANCE. 



GROWTH AND PROGRESS. 



Man's body is but a loom 

For weaving the webs of time — 

One, two, three, 

As the case may be. 
God's spirit and love are warp and woof, 
That make the web at his behoof. 



SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Having lived to the age of maturity, and been 
compelled to look on the problems of life with 
my own eyes, as it were, directly, and not through 
the eyes of others, I have arrived at certain conclu- 
sions concerning the nature of man, his destiny and 
his duty, which appear to me both true and import- 
ant. Being a member of no Church or religious 
body, though I have attended various churches from 
my youth, I am deeply interested in religion, and 
convinced of the supreme importance of living a 
true and virtuous life. I am often questioned by 
my friends about my belief. Hence, I have been 
led to write out the conclusions which have been 
forced upon me by thought and experience, hoping 
thereby at least to make my own position clear, and 
desiring also, if possible, to make the results of my 
thought helpful to others. 

As I have thought these matters out for myself, 
with little aid from the speculations of others, amid 
the labors and trials of a busy life, I have been com- 



6 

pelled to present my ideas in my own language, 
which I have tried to make so simple and plain that 
all can understand, instead of attempting to use the 
technical terms of science and philosophy, with 
which I am not familiar. I make no claim to be a 
philosopher. The subjects herein discussed have all 
come before my mind in a practical way, and I have 
looked upon them as I have been compelled to, with 
only a sincere desire to find for each problem a 
practical and rational solution. So I present the 
matter as I see it. The conclusions to which I have 
come appear consistent with all my experience ; 
therefore I regard them as true and valid. I do not 
claim, however, that these conclusions are infallible 
or perfect in all respects, but hold myself in readi- 
ness to change any of them upon evidence that they 
are erroneous. 



GOD IN NATURE. 

I am persuaded that there is a God who is the life 
and source of all the phenomena of the universe. 
Everything which is the product of his power has 
temporal life and also a permanent life. Temporal 
life is sustained by temporal things. The perman- 
ent life is God's nature permeating temporal things. 
Beginning with vegetation, we find that while all 



7 
vegetable forms are constantly undergoing process- 
es of growth and decay, there is through all these 
processes that power which gives growth and life 
from the seed to the stem and the tree, and which, 
by continued evolution, makes its way through the 
stem and the tree into seed again. Even the proces- 
ses of decay cannot destroy this life-giving energy. 
The products of decayed organisms furnish food for 
new growths, and so the forces of life continually 
triumph over death, and God is forever manifested 
in his creation. 

The lower animals are a step higher than vegeta- 
tion ; they have not only a temporal and permanent 
life similar to that which is manifested in vegetable 
organisms, but they have also consciousness : as 
shown by their actions they possess a light or know- 
ledge which we call instinct. The higher animals 
have a brain and a more highly developed organism 
and are capable of a higher order of conscious life. 
This life is both temporal and permanent in its 
character, as is shown by their actions. 

Man is a still higher creation than the animals 
and has many advantages superior to those of the 
brute creation. He has a temporal and permanent 
life, as they have, and in addition, the capacity for 
developing a moral and a spiritual nature. 



8 

Our globe or earth is composed of various ele- 
ments and forces which contribute to the benefit of 
all these organizations. The soil furnishes susten- 
ance for vegetation, and vegetation in turn furnish- 
es sustenance for animals. Both these orders of cre- 
ation furnish sustenance to man. When this process 
of up-building by the appropriation of sustenance 
has reached its natural limit, and thus served its 
purpose, the life departs, and the dust is left to re- 
turn to the dust. Everything pertaining to these 
different processes gives evidence that humanity, 
the animal creation, the vegetable kingdom and the 
earth itself, and all the materials and forces which 
constitute it, are governed by certain laws, and that 
everything on the earth, combined with the earth 
itself, constitutes one organization, of which there 
are many in the universe. Man is only one of the 
subordinate organizations that belong to this earth. 
Each separate organization has laws to regulate its 
activities, and which enable it to conform to the re- 
quirements of other organizations. God's creation 
is thus so perfect that it does not require any per- 
sonal interference or aid from him, other than that 
which is furnished by his constant presence in these 
laws and forces which govern it. As far as man's 
knowledge extends, there is not a spark of evidence 
that there are any imperfections in God's creation 
which call for supernatural interference. 



9 

The God whom I endeavor to serve is not a person 
who sits on a distant throne somewhere in the uni- 
verse, with a sword in his right hand and the Law 
and Gospel in his left hand, ruling the world like an 
Oriental despot. As known through his laws, he is 
a God of love, who bears affection toward all his 
children, not a part of them only, and who has plac- 
ed them in this world for a purpose. This purpose 
is the development of their moral and spiritual na- 
tures, and it is accomplished only through laboring 
for humanity. 

God has made men free agents so that they can 
act out their own desires. This enables them to 
obey his commands and build up their higher na- 
tures, or they can obey the behests of the animal na- 
ture and go down. God has so made men that when 
they do their duty they will absorb from his nature 
the spiritual elements necessary to build up their 
own higher life. When they fail to do their duty 
toward their fellow creatures they will not absorb 
these spiritual elements, but will lose what have al- 
ready been appropriated. They will separate them- 
selves from the help of God when they obey the be- 
hests of their animal natures by a natural and inevi- 
table law. In so doing, I am persuaded, however, 
that they do no wrong against God, as is popularly 



IO 

believed and taught, but rather against their own 
natures and their fellow men. 

The struggle all through the life of the temporal 
man is between the animal nature in him and the 
spiritual nature which pertains to the inner or spir- 
itual man. God did not bestow the animal nature 
upon man in order to allow him to do a wrong 
against the divine nature. He has given man an 
animal nature for a good purpose. One of its func- 
tions is to aid man in building up the moral nature. 
If there were no animal nature to contend with, man 
could develop no moral nature. There would be no- 
thing to compel him to do right or good if there were 
no animal nature tempting him to an opposite course 
of action. The development of the moral nature 
would be at a stand-still. The mind would no long- 
er be influenced to direct the temporal man to do a 
wrong. Without the animal nature and its tempta- 
tions there would be no exercise for the moral na- 
ture. Those who practice doing right in spite of 
these temptations will absorb the divine nature, and 
develop the sense of continued obligation to do right, 
which we call conscience. The continued practice 
of right doing in obedience to the commands of con- 
science makes right doing a pleasure. When a per- 
son possesses this disposition, he has no desire to do 



1 1 

wrong, or to rule over any one else, or to have any 
one bow down to him or cringe before him. His 
disposition is rather to do good by serving and help- 
ing others. He will not desire to create trouble or 
cause contention between others. He will desire 
nothing so much as peace and contentment. If this 
disposition, as I think, may rightly be regarded as 
the divine nature acting in man, then there is no 
evidence that there is any controversy between God 
and his children. The evidence is just the opposite. 

By the phrase "drawing nearer to God," or "draw- 
ing away from him," I do not mean to imply, there- 
fore, that we can possibly depart from his presence. 
I only mean that whenwe are doing right we partake 
of his divine nature, but when we are obeying the be- 
hests of the animal nature, w r e cannot thus receive 
the divine. I am fully persuaded that the divine 
Being is not only present in our spiritual organism, 
but that the spiritual organism is through all parts 
of the temporal body. For that reason, we could not 
draw near to him nor depart from him, in the ordi- 
nary sense of those words, for "in him we live and 
move and have our being." We can only develop 
our own spiritual natures by absorbing his nature, 
or permit them to atrophy by following the behests 
of our animal inclinations. 



12 



D IS PERFECT. 

What can man say, in the present age, and as a 
result of his experience, in regard to the existence 
of a God ? Has he any evidence that there is a God ? 
Man learns from experience that there are nu 
things which give evidence by the perfection of 
their organizations of the existence ;: s r:e power 
gTeater than themselves, which has brought them 
into nee and sustains them. Everything pos- 

nization which appears to be perfectly 
adapted to the ends for which it 

With this -vident fact, the traditional story of the 
fall am does not seem to ao;ree. According to 

this tradition, God created Adam a pure and perfect 
being, and him Eve for a help-mate. She was 

tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, 
and in turn induced Adam t By this act. he 

transgressed the law or commandment of God, and 
became a sinner. Hi- p «terity inherit his sinful 
nature and partake in his transgressions After 
many generations, Christ came to redeem the de- 
viants of Adam from the sins with which he had 
rdened them. 

This story seems to me irrational, because if God's 



13 

creatures are perfect, Adam and Eve could have had 
no inclination to sin. The story of the fall implies 
imperfection in what God had created. My conclu- 
sion is that Adam was not created a perfect being, 
but a being capable, through his own efforts, of self- 
improvement and development. Therefore, Adam 
could not fall from a perfect state. Suffering was 
never entailed on posterity in the way indicated by 
this tradition, and therefore the belief in Christ's 
vicarious suffering for the sins of humanity can 
have no such foundation. 

God has created man and endowed him with such 
faculties that he can take his choice between right 
and wrong doing. The consequences of the latter 
choice are evil and suffering, and by means of this 
he is taught and compelled to do right. God speaks 
to man through the nature which he has given him, 
and says "If you will do what is right and labor to 
build up your higher nature, I will give you of my 
nature and you can gradually become part of me. 
But if you will not labor to build up your moral and 
spiritual nature, you cannot absorb from me and you 
will go down." God says to man, "I have put you in 
possession of everything that is necessary to enable 
you to build up your higher nature : now take your 
choice between these good and evil paths." God 



14 

never withdraws himself from man : he is willing 
and ready at all times to help man, if man will only 
help himself, and do his duty to his fellow creatures. 
Man is born into this world with the capacity to ele- 
vate himself by doing right and serving humanity ; 
or, he can obey the propensities of his animal nature 
and in time lose the capacity for self-improvement. 
This is all the truth that I can perceive in the story 
of the fall. 

GOD IS SO FAR AWAY, AND YET SO NEAR. 

I can find no evidence that there is any direct 
communication from God to man, outside the chan- 
nels of man's natural faculties for acquiring know- 
ledge ; nor is there any evidence that there has ever 
been any communication from God to man except 
through the divine nature that is in man, and con- 
stitutes a part of his being. Apparently all that 
man knows outside of what is developed by or 
through God' nature in him, is but an education — a 
wholly natural process. If we take the building up 
of humanity for our guide, and test our actions by 
that instead of by an assumed supernatural revela- 
tion, we have something to rely upon about which 
we have some knowledge. This enables man to find 
out what his duty is toward his neighbor, and in 



i5 

ag him he is renck 
God. 



serving him he is rendering the truest service to 



THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL BODIES. 

Man as we see and know him is made up of a 
body, or physical organism, and a spiritual organism, 
which is the seat of the intellectual life. The first is 
subject to the law of waste, repair and decay. It 
has its beginning and end in time, and therefore I 
call it the Temporal Man. The second contains 
pow r ers and capacities which are not limited by tem- 
poral or physical conditions, and I therefore term it 
the inner or Spiritual Man. 

The temporal man when in health is a very per- 
fect physical machine — an organization of parts 
working together harmoniously like the wheels of a 
watch. Each part has a bearing on the other parts 
to which it is related. His various powers are all 
designed to produce certain definite results. We 
find the condition of the temporal man most perfect- 
ly illustrated in the young child. Such a child is, I 
might say, only an animal, and is more helpless 
even than a young animal. Yet he has within him 
the germ or seed of a spiritual organism. When 
that begins to develop, it absorbs life from the infi- 



i6 

nite spirit, which is God's spirit, as the physical or- 
ganism absorbs life from the material world. Thus 
the spiritual body is developed, inheriting the qual- 
ities of an immortal being, as the temporal man in- 
herits those of mortality. 

THE ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT. 

The Mind and Intellectual Qualities are first de- 
veloped in and grow with the spiritual body. Little 
by little, the personality of the child — the inner man 
— develops. It learns to know its parents, its broth- 
ers and sisters, the familiar objects by which it is 
surrounded. When sufficiently mature, it is taught 
the alphabet, and learns to read, to spell, and to ac- 
quire a knowledge of the ordinary and special in- 
dustries. 

The moral qualities of the child are next develop- 
ed. The child cannot build them up until he has 
some instruction and learns to understand something 
about right and wrong. The moral qualities develop 
later than but in harmony with the intellectual qual- 
ities : the two then grow along together side by side. 
By the aid of both — the moral qualities and the mind 
or intellect — the child or older person is enabled to 
decide what he considers right and what wrong. In 
the beginning the judgment of the parents takes the 



17 

place of the moral sense in the child's mind. The 
moral qualities ate not born in the child, though the 
germ of his moral sense exists at birth in his spirit- 
ual organism : they are first implanted by the par- 
ents, and grow until the child can form its own ideas 
of right and wrong, and act independently of the 
instructions of others. If the child was not first in- 
structed by the parents, it would know nothing about 
the moral qualities. After the inner man learns to 
perceive the difference between right and wrong, 
and to do the right, the moral nature, as a result of 
this practice, will gradually grow stronger. This 
nature will influence the mind, and through it guide 
the actions of the temporal man, and restrain the 
animal impulses. 

Next to the moral, come the spiritual qualities. 
After the growth of the moral nature has developed 
the disposition to do right, or to restrain one's self 
from the tendency to actions that are positively evil, 
the further development of the same nature appar- 
ently creates the disposition to do good — to actively 
help the world and our fellow men. This is w T hat I 
mean by the spiritual nature : that disposition that 
will not permit the person to rest in a condition of 
mere negative goodness, but which impels him to 
love the good and seek to positively benefit and bless 



i8 

his fellow men. This is the disposition which Christ 
manifested, and so beautifully illustrated in his per- 
sonal acts while here on earth. 



INSPIRATION. 

The ordinary view of inspiration is that it is a 
special or miraculous gift to a few, whereby God di- 
rectly communicates his will to them. My own view 
is that instead of being supernatural and occasional 
in its manifestation, it is natural and universal. God 
has so created man that he is capable of inspiring 
and being inspired. I am persuaded that man pos- 
sesses from the beginning all the faculties and pow- 
ers which are necessary for him, enabling him to 
develop light or knowledge by his own efforts. I 
would define inspiration as light or knowledge trans- 
mitted from parent to child or from one person to 
another. This is brought about in several ways. 
Man receives impressions from the outer world 
through the senses of seeing and hearing. Then he 
is prepared to receive the inspiration which will in- 
terpret these impressions to him, and it may come 
either through these senses or by his own reflec- 
tion and reasoning concerning the nature of the im- 
pressions. One who thus inspires a child, can only 
convey to him information as far as he himself is 



19 

educated or inspired ; beyond that he has no power 
to inspire. One cannot inspire in others an under- 
standing of that concerning which he himself is ig- 
norant. 

Consciousness in man, in this sense, is an inspira- 
tion, and is that power or quality in man which ena- 
bles him to know whatever is developed within the 
range of his mental faculties. Conscience is also an 
inspiration which impels man to know and to mani- 
fest the decision of his moral qualities. 

That the perception of an object is quite distinct 
from the inspiration which gives a person a know- 
ledge or consciousnewss of its nature and qualities is 
readily seen upon reflection. When a person re- 
ceives an impression on his intellect from the outer 
world, this alone does not give him knowledge as to 
its true character ; but if some person informs him 
what it is, the knowledge is conveyed to him through 
his senses and is the inspiration of the person to 
him. This inspiration unites with the consciousness 
of the impression and he then becomes conscious of 
what the impression really is. 

Again, a person may receive a similar inspiration 
through the sense of vision by reading. If I discov- 
er a plant which I have never seen before, I may by 
searching in a botanical text-book find it there de- 



20 

scribed, learn its qualities and attributes and also its 
name. Or, on the other hand, I may obtain know- 
ledge in similar cases through my own investigation, 
study anci experience. This information comes from 
the inner man, and is also a genuine inspiration. 

The impression of the object on the intellect may 
be made either before or after the inspiration of the 
knowledge or consciousness is developed. When the 
inspiration comes first, then the union with the per- 
ception at once produces knowledge or conscious- 
ness. When the perception precedes the inspiration, 
the child or person will carefully observe the new 
object until it has a perfect impression of it. Then 
it is ready to receive the inspiration ; that is, the 
knowledge and consciousness of the real nature of 
the object. 

If God really inspired man directly in any way, 
man would have an impression on his intellect of 
the inspiration or knowledge, which he would attri- 
bute to its proper source. Experience tells me, how- 
ever, that I have no such impressions. Except those 
inspirations that man develops within himself by 
the natural action of his faculties, or which he re- 
ceives from others through the senses of seeing or 
hearing, man has no other modes of acquiring know- 
ledge, except through the impressions made upon 



21 

his intellect by the outer world. This shows that all 
knowledges, inspirations and developments in con- 
sciousness belong to man exclusively, and are in no 
sense miraculous or supernatural. 

By saying that they belong to man exclusively, 
however, I do not wish to be understood as denying 
the dependence of man and all his faculties and 
powers upon the Deity. The God whom I recognize 
and serve, is not found in occasional and miraculous 
interferences with the order of nature, but is imme- 
diately present in that order everywhere. God is in 
nature, including the nature and faculties of man, 
whereby he is rendered capable of receiving these in- 
spirations. The air, by means of which we commu- 
nicate vocal sounds to the ears of others, the voice and 
organs of speech, the constitution of the mind and the 
brain which enables us to think the thoughts we ut- 
ter, and to understand the thoughts of others, are all 
evidences of the immediate presence of God in na- 
ture. He is, therefore, the common ground of all 
communication between persons, the medium of all 
inspiration, rather than the author of occasional, 
special and supernatural messages to man. 

I THE MIND. 

It will be observed that I not only make a distinc- 
tion between the temporal man and the inner or 



22 

spiritual man, but I also distinguish between the 
spiritual man and the mind and between the 
mind itself, or the consciousness, and the moral, 
intellectual and spiritual qualities. Our know- 
ledge belongs to the inner or spiritual man, 
and I am persuaded that it is not generated out 
of anything temporal, but is constituted out of 
spiritual things — out of something more than the 
body and its relations to the material world. If the 
intellect and mind of man were temporal, the intel- 
lectual qualities, and the knowledge gained during 
life would leave no permanent result. All our men- 
tal acquisitions would be a blank after the death of 
the physical body. The temporal man does not pro- 
duce or generate anything that is new. Each organ 
or part of the temporal man has a certain function 
to perform, and that is all. It operates as a machine 
and obeys the guidance of the inner man. The mind 
is developed by the contact of the inner man with 
the surrounding universe, and it is so constituted 
that by the aid and action of the brain and bodily 
organs, the inner man, or child, receives the power 
and develops the functions necessary to thought and 
action. 

THE INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 

As soon as the mind, or inner man, and the tern- 



23 

poral man, have together gained strength and devel- 
oped their several functions, they are then prepared 
to manifest the various intellectual qualities. By in- 
tellectual qualities, I mean that part or function of 
the inner or spiritual man which lies next to and 
corresponds with the brain in the bodily organism. 
They are a part, as it were, of the spiritual organ- 
ism, and constitute the material which the mind uses 
in the processes of thought. They receive and reg- 
ister the impressions made upon the inner man 
through the action of the five senses, and store up 
these impressions for the use of the mind in think- 
ing. 

There are three principal grades of the intellectu- 
al qualities. The first grade is developed through 
the sense of sight. When a young child first sees an 
object, the image of the object is conveyed to the 
corresponding intellectual quality by the organ of 
vision. Impressions are thus made and stored up in 
the quality. After such impressions are made, how T - 
ever, the child does not know what the image is, or 
what it represents, until it is taught. The parents 
must teach the child by the use of the voice what 
the objects are which they see. This additional 
knowledge is conveyed to the intellectual qualities 
through the organ of hearing. This will explain the 



24 
impressions made through the organs of vision. 
The child will then know what the image is which 
it sees. When the child is able to read, and to un- 
derstand what it reads, the same result is attained 
by and through the organs of vision. For example: 
when the child sees some new object, something 
which it has never seen before and knows nothing 
about, the image will be conveyed to the intellectual 
qualities, and an impression made thereon. The 
child will not know what the object is, but if the pa- 
rents will write the required explanation on paper, 
and give it to the child to read, the knowledge will 
then be conveyed to the intellect by the organ of 
vision, as it was in our first example by the organ of 
hearing. 

The second grade of the intellectual qualities is 
unfolded as follows : when the child hears a voice or 
other vsound the impression is directly conveyed to 
the mind through the organ of hearing. This sound, 
of itself, does not make any impression on the intel- 
lectual qualities, unless it is a new sound. But when 
the voice or sound conveys knowledge, then the in- 
tellectual qualities receive the knowledge thus con- 
veyed, and the mind, by fixing its attention upon 
them, becomes conscious of the information thus 
given. This faculty of attention, whereby the mind 
is enabled to recall past impressions made through 



25 

the senses on the intellectual qualities, I call the 
Mind's Eye, since it performs for the mind or con- 
sciousness a similar function to that which is per- 
formed for the temporal man by the organ of vision. 
There is this difference, however, in the action of 
the physical and mental faculties of vision : the nat- 
ural eye ranges over a w T ide field of vision, and re- 
ceives a great many impressions, or impressions 
from a great many objects at once ; while the Mind's 
Eye, in order to bring to view a past impression 
made upon the intellectual qualities, must concen- 
trate itself upon that single impression alone, ex- 
cluding, so far as possible, all others. To the degree 
in which this concentration is completely effected, 
the object is perfectly recalled. 

Thus, in developing the second grade of the intel- 
lectual qualities, if the voice or sound received is 
new to the child it will have to be taught what it is. 
When taught by the voice, the knowledge will be 
conveyed by the organ of hearing to the intellectual 
quality, where it will be duly established. When 
the child can read, the knowledge can be conveyed 
by the organ of vision. The organ of hearing, un- 
like that of vision, thus conveys knowledge directly 
to the intellect, and does not require the aid of any 
other organ to produce the required impression. 



26 

The third grade of intellectual qualities is devel- 
oped by the direct action of the mind, through a 
process of continuous or concentrated thought. In 
other words, the Mind's Eye is consciously seeking 
what it wishes to develop. This involves the activi- 
ty of those mental faculties commonly known as 
attention, concentration and memory. When the 
quality sought by the Mind's Eye is formulated and 
clearly brought before the mental vision, it will be 
duly unfolded and established so that it can at any 
time be brought before the mind. 



^ x 



The faculties of taste, smell and touch differ mate- 
rially from those of vision and hearing, in the man- 
ner in which they convey knowledge to the mind. 
They construct no image, voice or sound, by means 
of which they produce impressions on the intellectu- 
al qualities. They cannot, therefore, convey know- 
ledge to these qualities until they have first been un- 
folded by the action of the other senses. After they 
are thus unfolded or developed, the organs of taste, 
smell and touch can convey the knowledge which 
they derive from the outer world to the intellect. 
For example : when a child tastes something which 
it has never tasted before, it does not recognize what 
it is. The parent will have to teach the child with 
what particular object the peculiar taste is connect- 



27 
ed. This he does by telling the child ; and thus 
through the organ of hearing the knowledge is con- 
veyed to the intellectual qualities. Later on, th e 
same result is effected through the organ of vision, 
as before described. 

As soon as the child is sufficiently mature to un- 
fold the intellectual qualities, the process of develop- 
ment commences. Impressions will be made slowly 
at first, but later on with greater frequency. Many 
impressions will be made of which the child will at 
first have no true knowledge. As soon as one defi- 
nite impression is made, the Mind's Eye can seek it 
out and rest upon it, bringing it thus directly before 
the mind for examination. Two impressions in- 
crease the field of mental vision, and so on. As the 
child develops with maturer years the impressions 
are more numerous and more quickly made. The 
impressions upon the young child, though more 
slowly made, are apparently more deeply implanted. 
In later years, when the child is further advanced 
and better prepared to unfold a higher grade of in- 
tellectual qualities, the mind will be called upon for 
severer labor. It will have to unfold the higher 
qualities of the intellect, not by the direct action of 
voice, sound or image, but by submitting the mate- 
rials thus acquired by past experience, to the Mind's 
Eye, to be formulated in words or knowledge. 



28 

The child first learns the alphabet, observing each 
particular letter as it observes other objects, and ob- 
taining a knowledge of it as I have before described. 
When it begins to formulate these letters into sylla- 
bles it will be obliged to develop and use other and 
higher qualities. This will require thought and re- 
flection. For example, place before the child the 
letters a and b in the form of a syllable, ab. It will 
recognise the letters, but it will not know that they 
form a syllable or combined sound until it is so 
taught. Then, knowing what a syllable is, it will 
look carefully at the letters as they are combined, 
and reflect upon them until the new impression is 
made and the knowledge of the combination is es- 
tablished in the intellectual qualities. As the child 
grows and advances, the combinations become more 
complex and difficult. After he has formulated some 
of the higher qualities of the intellect, and advanced 
to a point where he is capable of employing himself 
in some industry, or following some special branch 
of education ; after he has made a success in his 
chosen pursuit, he will have learned that the process 
of development is an endless one, and he will obtain 
some idea of the number of the intellectual qualities 
which God has given him to unfold. 



2 9 



FURTHER POINTS CONCERNING THE MIND. 

I am convinced that the mind has an existence 
separate from that of the physical organism. In 
some respects it is independent of the brain ; yet in 
our earthly life it receives communications from the 
brain, and acts jointly with it, and also with the in- 
tellectual qualities. The mind possesses life ; it re- 
ceives and transmits impressions and is ever active. 
By reason of its joint activity with the brain, which 
is a part of the physical organism, it makes use of 
force in its operations, and requires sustenance and 
nutrition. It is not sustained, however, by the same 
means which nourish the physical body, but by other 
means, required by its higher nature. If the mind 
were temporal in its nature, it would constitute a 
part of the physical organism, and be sustained by 
the same means, and. by those only, which sustain 
the temporal man. If it were temporal, it would be 
subject to our examination, like the parts of the phy- 
sical body, and we should know as much about the 
mind as we do about the brain. I contend, however, 
that the mind is not temporal, but spiritual. Now, 
if the mind is spiritual, it must have been developed 
out of something which is spiritual or lasting. My 
experience teaches me that the mind, though not it- 



3o 

self material, is in close communication with its ma- 
terial organ — the brain. The intellectual qualities 
are also closely related to the various organs of the 
brain, and to the mind. What is the structure and 
appearance, the form and shape of the intellectual 
qualities, I do not know ; but my experience proves 
to me that there must be something connected with 
mind which enables me to remember and recall the 
objects of my previous observation, or the impres- 
sions which they have made, and to picture them 
before mv mental vision. 



HOW THE MIND REMEMBERS PAST EVENTS. 

I know there is something which receives the im- 
pressions and retains the knowledge gained. This 
knowledge must be located in or on something real 
and substantial. It cannot be on the physical brain, 
for all that we could see there, even with the strong- 
est microscope, would be the movements of particles 
of matter. It cannot be hanging or floating about in 
the air, without any substantial foundation. Take, 
for example, a person who has reached a ripe old 
age : he can recall and see with his Mind's Eye im- 
pressions that were made in his early youth. If his 
mind be clear and his faculties unimpaired, he can 



3i 
see them as perfectly as when the impressions were 
first made. 

The theory that the brain receives the impressions 
and retains them is no more practical than my own 
theory, and does not account for all the facts. It 
would practically leave the spiritual body headless, 
with no permanent store of wisdom and information, 
whereas I believe it to be the storehouse of all our 
knowledge. God teaches us through the observa- 
tion of creatures living upon the earth that are de- 
veloped, or transformed, out of lower organizations, 
as the moth or butterfly from the silk-worm, that 
each has its proper knowledge developed with it. It 
is not a special creation, introduced from without, 
when the transformation takes place, but the know- 
ledge develops, as the form develops, naturally. A 
similar development of man's spiritual nature takes 
place during his life upon the earth, and is not, as 
some suppose, bestowed instantaneously upon him, 
as a new creation, after the death of the temporal 
body. 

The principles which I have laid down find an 
illustration in every school-room. Let a teacher 
have brought before him a class of new pupils, about 
whom he knows nothing. He will be obliged to 
study their characters, their modes of action and 



32 

their dispositions. After they have been under his 
instruction for some time, and are ready to pass on 
to a higher grade, he will have the impressions 
which they have made upon his intellectual faculties 
deeply implanted, so that when he concentrates his 
Mind's Eye on one of those pupils, and desires to 
remember him, he can bring him before his mental 
or spiritual vision almost as perfectly as if he were 
present in the body. When he is thus recalling one 
of his former pupils, he can see no other at the same 
time. If the impressions were all made directly on 
the mind itself, he would be able to recall all the 
pupils at one time, since the impressions were made 
simultaneously, and are of equal force. If the mind 
were capable of receiving impressions from all the 
pupils directly, without the aid of the intellectual 
qualities, and at the same time, then it would be ca- 
pable of recalling them at the same time before the 
mental vision. Experience proves, however, that 
the Mind's Eye can dwell upon and distinguish only 
one object at a time. This demonstrates to me that 
the impressions are not made directly on the mind, 
and that we must distinguish the intellectual quali- 
ties on which they are made both from the mind or 
consciousness and from the material brain. 

Again, when a person takes a journey through a 



33 
country which he has never visited before, his eyes 
will see many new things, and his ears will hear 
new sounds and new voices. Impressions will thus 
be taken, and the knowledge so gained will be itn- 
- planted in the intellectual qualities. After he re- 
turns home, at his leisure he will recall the incidents 
of his journey. The popular belief seems to be that 
when he does so, the Mind's Eye actually revisits 
the scenes which it perceives, wandering from place 
to place and from object to object. This, however, 
is not the case. The mind does not leave the place 
where the person now is. The Mind's Eye simply 
seeks out those impressions which were made dur- 
ing the journey, upon that part of the inner or spir- 
itual man which I distinguish as the intellectual 
qualities. 

HOW TO STUDY THE MIND'S ACTION. 

We can study this action of the mind most per- 
fectly when all disturbing influences are, so far as 
possible, shut out. When I go into a room where 
everything is dark and quiet, and concentrate my 
Mind's Eye on a village or houses some miles away, 
with which I am familiar, the mind apparently goes 
directly to the place, but the Mind's Eye does not at 
once distinguish any particular object. All that I 



34 
am aware of is a vague recollection. If I concen- 
trate my thought on the particular house in which I 
have dwelt, a change gradually occurs, and the 
Mind's Eye begins to receive definite impressions 
of the place. It can see the streets and houses, and 
can search from house to house until it discovers the 
particular dwelling with which I am most familiar. 
If my mind actually went out to those places, as I 
was educated to think was the case, then I could see 
other houses and localities as well as the ones with 
which I am acquainted. Experience teaches me, 
however, that I cannot see any object with the 
Mind's Eye unless I first see it with my temporal 
eyes. This demonstrates to me that the Mind's Eye 
regards only the impressions previously made on the 
intellectual qualities. Impressions received through 
either the organs of vision or of hearing will be lo- 
cated in the direction of the place or places where 
the objects were when they were originally seen or 
heard. This still further convinces me that the 
Mind, the Mind's Eye, and the Intellectual Qualities 
are not one and the same thing. They are separate. 
At least the Mind and the Mind's Eye are separate 
from the Intellectual Qualities, yet they are definite- 
ly related to each other, and have communication, 
one with the other. The impressions made on the 
intellect through the organs of sense are so located 



35 
that the Mind's Eye can observe them all in turn, 
and convey the knowledge thus gained to the mind. 

THE MIND AND THE TEMPORAL MAN. 

The mind is independent of the temporal man. 
yet it controls the temporal man as the engineer 
guides and controls the steam engine, The mind is 
influenced by the animal in man, and also by his 
moral nature. In the first instance, it will direct the 
temporal man to obey the behests of the animal na- 
ture. In the second instance, the mind will direct 
the temporal man to obey the instructions of the 
moral nature. When the mind is normal, it will not 
influence the temporal man to do wrong, because it 
belongs to the inner or spiritual man, and its natural 
tendencies are toward the good. 

The mind's actions when the temporal man is at 
rest, clearly demonstrate that its existence is separ- 
ate from that of the physical body. For example : 
if a person opposes the natural promptings of the 
mind and makes an effort to prohibit the Mind's Eye 
from turning from one impression to another, expe- 
rience teaches us that we cannot do so. Its action is 
independent of and superior to our volition. Again, 
when the mind dictates to the temporal man, and 
commands him to move, how ready he is to obey the 
command. 



36 



HOW THE MEMORY REWARDS AND PUNISHES. 

If any person will try the experiment before sug- 
gested, of going into a dark room, where all is quiet, 
and there is nothing to disturb or distract the atten- 
tion, and if he will direct his Mind's Eye to the good 
impressions which have been made from time to 
time by his previous actions, he will find enjoyment 
in the contemplation. The good deeds which he 
has inscribed on his book of remembrance will be 
recalled and be pleasant to look at. On the other 
hand, if he turns his attention to the evil acts of his 
past life, he will find them painful to look at. Im- 
pressions made years ago will appear as vivid as if 
made yesterday. In this way, by the action of the 
mind and its faculties we are continually judged, 
and rewarded or punished by the experience of 
pleasure or infliction of pain, according to the nature 
of our past actions. Every day or hour of quiet con- 
templation thus becomes a judgment day. 

To sum up, therefore, the function of the mind, as 
I understand it, is to receive and transmit impres- 
sions and inspirations on the intellect, to organize 
them into knowledge, to meditate, to consider, to 
decide, to dictate, to direct. 

The function of the Mind's Eye is to search 



37 
through the intellectual qualities, to contemplate the 
knowledge and images which have been impressed 
thereon by past experience, and to convey this 
knowledge to the mind. 

The function of the Intellectual Qualities is to re- 
ceive impressions made by and through the organs 
of the senses from the outer world, and to store 
them up for future contemplation. 

THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL BODIES. 

I am persuaded that the inner or spiritual man is 
developed from a seed or germ which is present at 
birth in the organism of every young child. This 
germ expands and begins to form the spiritual body 
as soon as the child begins to grow. The mind, as 
well as the intellectual, moral and spiritual quali- 
ties, are attributes of the spiritual body, and are 
developed with it. During life, the spiritual man is 
intimately connected with the temporal man, and 
guides, preserves and benefits him, as the intellectu- 
al qualities are developed. 

The outer or temporal body is a perfect organism, 
composed of different related parts, which in their 
combination may be compared to a loom or machine 
for weaving the web of life — or, in other words, for 
building up the spiritual nature. All right disposi- 



38 

tions, the disposition to act rightly, to do good and 
to develop knowledge, come from the inner or spir- 
itual man. I am persuaded that anger, the passions 
and appetites belong to the temporal man, but dis- 
positions belong to the inner man. The temporal 
man also has certain tendencies which belong to its 
own nature. This nature, when unduly gratified, 
becomes the enemy of man's higher nature. Such 
are the angry passions and animal appetites. 

The spiritual and temporal bodies are so construct- 
ed that they work harmoniously together, acting 
upon one another through the organs of sense which 
belong to the temporal man. They aid one another, 
when properly governed, in their process of growth. 
The mind is that particular attribute of the spiritual 
man which directs the actions of the temporal man. 
The temporal man always obeys the mind's direc- 
tions, whether the action of the mind is normal, and 
under the influence of the moral and spiritual na- 
tures, or whether it is abnormal, and under the influ- 
ence of the animal nature. The temporal man is 
thus obliged to aid in developing the intellectual 
qualities. These, in their turn, store up knowledge 
which is conveyed to the mind, and thence transmit- 
ted through the voice, or otherwise, to direct the ac- 
tions of the temporal man. 



39 

The temporal man also aids in building tip the 
moral qualities. The temporal man is an organism 
composed of various parts : so also is the spiritual 
man. They constitute two distinct organizations, 
yet it requires the activities of both to perfect either. 
The temporal man must receive aid from the spirit- 
ual man in order to educate himself for the duties 
of life and secure his maintenance. The spiritual 
man must receive aid from the temporal man in or- 
der to develop the intellectual, moral and spiritual 
qualities. 

THE EVIDENCE OF A SPIRITUAL BODY. 

• What evidence have we, it may be asked, that we 
have an inner or spiritual body which forms or de- 
velops during the life within the temporal body? 
God's creation as it is manifested in all forms of or- 
ganic life, is everywhere seen to be a perfect, econo- 
mical and harmonious system. If we begin with 
the lowest plant or animal and follow the line of de- 
velopment up to the spiritual man, we shall find the 
finger of God pointing out all along the line the 
method by which everything is brought into being. 
The different forms of vegetation, the various ani- 
mals, and the temporal body of man, are all devel- 
oped from seeds, each after its own kind. All the 



40 
different parts and organs come forth in the course 
of the development, and they are perfectly adapted 
to the performance of their various functions. These 
parts are not developed separately and serially, one 
after another, at different times, but all commence 
to grow and are gradually perfected together. They 
are all parts of one perfect organism, and have a 
common life. So, also, the qualities of the inner or 
spiritual man, including the mind, could not develop 
unless they were connected with some body or or- 
ganization in common, that acts in unison and har- 
mony with the temporal body. Experience convin- 
ces me that the mind, and the intellectual, moral and 
spiritual qualities cannot be functions or attributes 
of the temporal body. If this is so, they must be 
connected with a spiritual body. It is my belief that 
this body is growing within us during the entire 
period of our life, and that while it is connected with 
the temporal body it attains the complete form, size 
and appearance which it will manifest when jthe 
tenporal body separates from it at death. 

The common belief is that the spiritual part of 
man is the so-called soul, which is immaterial and is 
developed in the temporal body. When it is separ- 
ated from the body at death, it is believed that the 
soul passes on to a higher sphere where God has 



4* 

prepared a spiritual bod} 7 to receive it. To believe 
that it is necessary for God to separately create such 
a body in the spiritual world apart from the earthly 
man, is to limit and underestimate the perfection 
and economy of the divine method in human devel- 
opment. It is not consistent with what we know of 
the operations of nature to suppose that it is necessa- 
ry for God to furnish spiritual bodies in advance and 
keep them on hand to supply the souls as they pass 
on to the higher life. God says to us through all 
the operations of nature : Everything comes from a 
seed. Out of the seed is developed all forms of ani- 
mal and vegetable life, including the body of man. 
The same is also to be assumed as true of the spirit- 
ual body, with all its noble faculties and powers. 

man's animal nature. 
I am persuaded that the sources of all the evils 
that man has to contend with are anger and the bod- 
ily passions and appetites — faculties which he pos- 
sesses in common with the higher animals ; I there- 
fore call them the animal in the temporal man. 
From its earliest years, the child has these animal 
propensities, apparently fully developed. The ani- 
mal part of man is always active, and ready to exer- 
cise control over the mind, so as to induce the mind 
to direct the temporal man to act as it desires. The 



42 
animal instincts are powerful, and it is only by the 
firm exercise of the moral nature that they can be 
restrained. Take, for example, any young child be- 
fore his moral qualities are developed. His intellec- 
tual qualities and his bodily actions will be more or 
less under control of the animal until the moral na- 
ture comes to his relief. There are times, it is true, 
when the animal propensities are at rest. At such 
periods the temporal man is also at peace. But 
whenever circumstances arise which conflict with 
the animal tendencies they are at once aroused and 
endeavor to influence the mind to direct the tempo- 
ral man to do their bidding. As long as the animal 
has control over the temporal man he does as it di- 
rects, and his appetites crave a continuance of this 
indulgence ; but when the animal is restrained, the 
temporal man is at rest. The animal instincts have 
a work to perform, in attempting to control the 
temporal man and thus opposing the moral nature. 
The moral nature, like all other natures, grows by 
exercise, and it is only exercised when something 
opposes it which it has to overcome. Experience 
and observation teach me that when man controls 
his anger, his passions and his appetites, he has con- 
quered all the evil influences which beset him. He 
will find no further temptation to do wrong. When 
he willingly obeys the commands of his moral nature 



43 

the conflict with the animal will cease, and he will 
be at rest and peace with the world. The only devil 
which besets man is the evil in his animal nature. 

THE MORAL AND ANIMAL NATURES. 

Experience thus teaches man that there are two 
natures or tendencies in him which oppose each 
other. One of these is the moral nature, the func- 
tion of which is to build up his higher manhood. 
The other is the animal nature, the function of 
which is to debase and destroy it. The controversy 
between these two tendencies continues during the 
whole of mans temporal life. He must labor con- 
tinually, doing right, in order to overcome the ani- 
mal propensities. There is no other method by 
which the animal nature can be restrained and 
overcome. 

HOW 7 LABOR DEVELOPS THE MORAL NATURE. 

The physical and spiritual organisms are so con- 
structed and mutually related that they aid each 
other and promote each other's development, when 
properly exercised. This can only be done by con- 
stant striving and active labor. Parents labor in 
instructing their children. This instruction can only 
develop the intellectual nature of the child effect- 



44 
ively when the child co-operates with the parents, 
and labors to acquire knowledge. After it has ob- 
tained an education, it must also work to earn a liv- 
ing. While it is striving for a maintenance, it has 
to exert itself to develop its moral qualities and to 
put them into practice. This effort results in devel- 
oping the moral nature. Then this nature will 
force him to do right to others, and such activities 
will develop the higher spiritual nature. Thus we 
see that work or exercise is required for the devel- 
opment of both the physical and spiritual bodies. 

When the child strives to acquire knowledge, it 
knows that its acquisition is the result of this labor. 
When it commences to work for a living, it also 
learns by experience that it is thus able to earn its 
daily bread, and that it can be done in no other way. 
Later in life, when the child is prepared to build up 
the moral qualities, and comes to take an interest in 
the instruction of its parents, it likewise learns by 
experience that only by the practice of moral actions 
can the moral nature be developed. By continual 
experience in right actions, a disposition will be 
created to love the right. He will so learn that all 
his effort has not been in vain. The struggle to do 
right will at last develop a love of right for its own 
sake, which is the crowning glory of the moral na- 
ture. 



45 

CONSCIOUSNESS. 

Self-consciousness is not born in the individual, 
but is an inspiration. When the child is young, be- 
fore the mind and intellectual qualities are devel- 
oped, the inner or spiritual man cannot be in any 
real sense conscious of anything. The temporal man 
may experience various sensations in his bodily or- 
gans, but he is not aware of what produces the vari- 
ous sensations and pains which he experiences. In 
this stage of development, the temporal body is like 
the body of an animal, without true knowledge or self- 
consciousness. Parents who observe a young child 
carefully will perceive that the inner or spiritual 
part of its nature becomes conscious only as fast as 
the intellectual qualities develop. In the process of 
this development spiritual knowledge is gradually 
manifested. The child learns to recognize his own 
nature as a self-conscious individual. The develop- 
ment of each class of the intellectual qualities will 
be accompanied by the growth of its related spiritu- 
al knowledge. To the degree in which the inner or 
spiritual man is truly educated, it becomes aware 
that spiritual knowledge is essential to self-con- 
sciousnes. This perception brings with it a dispo- 
sition to develop such knowledge. When the child 
first begins to perceive what the image or action 



4 6 

truly is which has impressed itself upon the intel- 
lectual qualities, this perception constitutes the be- 
ginning of consciousness in the child. Conscious- 
ness begins to develop at the same time that the 
child commences to receive impressions from the 
most familiar objects about him, for instance, his 
mother or his nurse, by or through the organs of 
sight or hearing. A person, even the most familiar 
person, as his mother, is at first to him only a mova- 
ble object When the impressions are so far per- 
fected that he can distinguish between his mother 
and some other person, he is then conscious that he 
knows the difference between such persons. This is 
the first perfected consciousness in the child. 

In the course of time, a person, as we say, forgets 
many things. The impressions made by past expe- 
riences upon the intellectual qualities appear to have 
faded away or dispersed, or the Mind's Eye is not 
able readily to locate the position of the qualities so 
it can see them at any required moment. It may be 
some time before the impression can be found or re- 
called which contains the matter that has thus dis- 
appeared. During the time when the impressions 
are thus lost, the consciousness thereof is also lost. 
Just as soon as the Mind's Eye discovers the lost im- 
pressions, and the matter sought for is brought be- 



47 
fore the mind, at that moment the mind becomes 
conscious of it, and recognizes the fact that it has 
been conscious of it before. This fully demonstrates 
that consciousness depends upon the knowledge and 
comes and goes with it. 

MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 

When any person is enjoying physical and mental 
health, and has nothing to unduly disturb or excite 
him, his condition is said to be normal. In such a 
condition the temporal man has no temptation to do 
wrong. If the person is a child, he will play, and 
enjoy himself with innocent amusements. If a man, 
he will take pleasure in his daily vocation. He will 
have peace and contentment until his animal nature 
is in some way aroused. Just as soon as the tempo- 
ral man performs any act that conflicts with the an- 
imal propensities, the influence of the animal nature 
will be felt throughout the entire system of the tem- 
poral man, and the mind will be induced to direct 
the temporal man to obey the demands of his ani- 
mal propensities. When the animal nature has ex- 
hausted itself, it will cease to exert a controlling in- 
fluence over the mind and the temporal man, and 
they will return to their normal condition. This 
state of things continues until after the moral nature 
begins to develop in the child. 



4 8 

When the moral nature has to some extent been 
developed, it constitutes an opposing force to the 
action of the animal propensities. The moral nature 
always strives to influence the mind to direct the 
temporal man in opposition to the commands of his 
animal nature. If anger, the bodily passions and 
appetites could be eradicated, the mind would be re- 
lieved from all evil influences, and would no longer 
direct the temporal man to do wrong. 

When a parent informs his child that a certain 
action towards its neighbor is wrong, the warning 
will cause the child to consider the act carefully, to 
estimate its effects and subsequent influence, and 
this course of reflection will establish the parent's 
instructions, or a knowledge of the wrongfulness of 
the action, in the intellectual qualities. The moral 
character of the action is thus developed and record- 
ed for the future guidance of the child. Afterwards 
the child, if well disposed, will be governed by these 
instructions, unless it discovers through its own ex- 
perience and observation that the parent's judgment 
was at fault. In such a case, the child will make his 
own decision, contrary to that of the parent. It is 
the duty of the parent to instruct the child from its 
earliest years until it is able to discover for itself 
what is right and what is wrong. Every such in- 



49 
struction will constitute a record for the government 
of the child's conduct, provided he takes an interest 
in his parent's counsel, and gives it due heed. If 
the child obeys and practices these instructions, his 
moral nature will increase and bring with it the dis- 
position to act according to the decisions of the par- 
ent. When the child has become capable of decid- 
ing for itself what is right and what is wrong it will 
no longer depend on its parent's instructions. In 
order to arrive at this condition of self-knowledge 
and self-determination, however, it must have a basis 
to start from. This basis is the moral knowledge 
which it has gained from the parent's instructions. 
The experience of the child up to the time when it 
is able to make its own decisions, will give it the 
conception of right and wrong, and some idea of 
what is right and what is wrong, 

As soon as a situation arises which requires a de- 
cision in regard to the rightness or wrongness of an 
action, the child will reflect about the matter. The 
Mind's Eye will run over the previous decisions in 
similar cases which have been made within the child's 
experience. The mind will note the bearing of these 
decisions on the case in hand, and decide the matter 
accordingly. After such a decision is once made, 
independently of the parent's instructions, it consti- 



50 
tutes one more moral quality for its future use and 
guidance. When the decision is once made, either 
for right or for wrong, the child abides by it and is 
governed by it until it learns better, or its judgment 
is corrected by subsequent experience. The moral 
nature can only enforce a course of action in accord- 
ance with the degree of development in the moral 
qualities. When a child does an act in opposition 
to the one already recorded, the moral sense indicat- 
ed by that record will at once say that the act is 
wrong. It will so dictate because the parents of the 
child have taught it that such an act would be wrong. 
It is the decision of the moral judgment, so educat- 
ed, that tells the child what is wrong. 

MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 
CONTRASTED. 

Philosophers tell us that man's intellectual and re- 
ligious development have preceded his moral devel- 
opment. According to tradition, each tribe or na- 
tion, in the earlier ages, had its own conception of 
God. These were the intellectual ages of the world, 
when morality was apparently unknown. Perfected 
man, as we now find him, has been endowed not on- 
ly with an intellectual nature, but also a moral and 
spiritual nature. His intellect is so fashioned that 
he can direct it to forward his development in any 



5* 
direction. This enables him to choose his own 
course of action, and naturally leads to many diverse 
ideas and customs of worship. Underneath all hu- 
man progress, we find one principle or law of devel- 
opment or evolution There is no binding force, 
however, which controls the intellectual natures of 
men and unites them in one infallible religious be- 
lief. The human intellect puts forth many theories 
concerning man's relation to God and to the universe. 
It is no part of man's intellectual activity, however, 
to develop his moral and spiritual nature. These are 
of separate origin and character. When man shall 
learn to combine the moral with the intellectual de- 
velopment, this will pave the way and open the gate 
for a more perfect unity of humanity. 

Man's intellectual nature is developed by study 
and leflection ; but his moral nature requires a very 
different mode of procedure. It is only by the prac- 
tice of doing right to our fellow man that we can in- 
sure the growth of the moral nature. This is first 
commenced under the influence of instruction. 
When the child or person thus begins to combine 
the moral with the intellectual development, it takes 
the first step toward the formation of a true moral 
nature. This is possible at any point through life. 

The so-called spiritual part of man is but an ex- 



52 

tension of a morality that is largely negative in its 
nature, consisting in refraining from doing any 
wrong or injury to our fellow men, into the sphere 
of active and positive helpfulness. The spiritual 
nature, also, can only be developed by practice — by 
striving to do good to humanity. 

The freedom of man's intellectual nature enables 
him to choose his own course of development, and 
adapt himself to any pursuit in life which he may 
desire to follow, and from which he may obtain com- 
pensation for his labors. He may labor at his chos- 
en occupation continuously, combining but little of 
the moral with the intellectual in its pursuit. On 
the other hand, he may perhaps be chiefly interest- 
ed in moral development and devote but little time 
to the intellectual. Each stands on its own merits, 
each has its own proper exercise, and each will bring 
its appropriate reward. Even if one attains success 
in his chosen pursuit by close intellectual applica- 
tion, obtains knowledge and wealth, and surrounds 
himself with all the comforts and luxuries of life, 
the contentment will be but partial and temporary. 
It is the nature of the intellectual part of man never 
to be satisfied. 

On the other hand, if one combines the exercise 
and development of his moral nature with his intel- 



53 
lectual activities, in due proportion, he will gradual- 
ly develop his moral and spiritual natures, and this 
gives permanent peace and contentment 

CORRESPONDENCE AND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
MEN AND ANIMALS. 

I am persuaded that man's intellectual develop- 
ment in earlier ages was similar to that of the high- 
er animals, differing only in the possession by him 
of the faculty of articulate speech. These animals 
are apparently of similar natures and dispositions 
with primitive or savage men. They have a mind 
or intellect, as well as memory ; an animal nature 
with its passions ; the disposition to affection similar 
to that which a mother shows to her child, and the 
child to its mother. This is God in nature, working 
through these natural laws and dispositions. When 
the anger and passions are at rest, they remain so 
until some disturbing influence acts upon the animal 
nature. Under such influences, animals act as men 
do. The higher animals can to some extent be edu- 
cated by man. Whether they educate each other, 
or possess a language by which they can communi- 
cate with each other, are questions not yet definitely 
settled. Nor has man any evidence that animals 
possess any moral development. 



54 

With respect to himself, man is conscious that he 
possesses a moral nature capable of development. 
He has a power within which is capable of opposing 
the anger and passions of the animal nature and re- 
straining them. If the animals possessed this power 
they would give evidence of its possession by a 
gradual change in their natures in the direction of 
moral improvement. No such change, however, is 
observable. This is evidence that moral develop- 
ment commences with man, and does not belong to 
the animal creation below man. 

There is no hindrance to the complete develop 
ment of the moral nature in man, except such as 
arises from the animal propensities. In every branch 
of his development he must combine moral activi- 
ties with the intellectual, if he desires to build up his 
moral nature. He must contemplate moral ends in 
every act, deciding for himself whether the act is 
right before he performs it. One who so lives will 
have a pleasant and contented life. There are those 
who apparently endeavor to put just enough moral 
purpose into their actions to carry them through a 
successful business career without personal dishonor 
or violation of the law. Such may accumulate riches, 
enjoy all the comforts of life, and develop certain 
faculties of their nature by successful use ; but they 
will find no true peace or contentment. 



55 



DEFECTS OF OUR EDUCATIONAL METHODS. 

Our present educational methods in civilized lands 
pay more or less attention to moral and intellectual 
development, but also fill the mind of the child with 
unverified theories and theologies, as well as undue 
regard for the forms and formalities of religious 
worship This brings about a state of mental con- 
fusion in the child which is unable to distinguish 
the difference between the moral and intellectual 
factors in his mental training. This has been a se- 
rious error in our educational systems, from the ear- 
liest historical ages to the present time. If the child 
was taught the true nature of intellectual and moral 
development, and how to put them into practice, 
how much easier and simpler it would be for human- 
ity to improve and live a God-like life. 

When, in the order of moral development, the in- 
tellectual nature is made to conform to moral ends, 
it loses its purely intellectual character and con- 
forms to the moral. On the other hand, if the moral 
man becomes indifferent, his action will cease to 
have this moral quality and again become purely in- 
tellectual. Such is the disposition of these two ten- 
dencies throughout life : each has its own sphere of 



56 

activity, each grows by use and perishes by disuse. 
New impressions are made on the intellect with 
every effort to combine the moral with the intellect- 
ual in action, and these impressions result in an in- 
spiration of moral consciousness. This inspiration 
comes from the inner man. 

Experience thus teaches us that God's moral na- 
ture in man can only be developed by labor. It also 
teaches us that the only road to the higher spiritual 
life leads through moral development. Intellectual 
theories and theologies, forms and ceremonies of 
religious worship, belong exclusively to man's intel- 
lectual nature and are of no avail in moral and spir- 
itual culture. 

There appears to be no power in the intellectual 
part of man to lead us any nearer the higher or mo- 
ral development than the growth of a moral quality, 
or the initiation of moral actions. This is the end 
of man's intellectual ability in that direction. 

The moral law is recognized by man only as a re- 
sult of practicing moral acts. That gives him a dis- 
position to do right. Repetition of right actions in- 
duces a habit of right action ; and the habit by con- 
tinued repetition becomes pleasurable. The incen- 
tive to this habit comes from the inner or spiritual 
man. It does not come from the outer world, or 



57 
through the impressions conveyed by the senses to 
the intellect, as other impressions and inspirations 
do, but from the inner man by a commanding im- 
pulse. Intellectual development, therefore, means 
and implies a process of education. Moral develop- 
ment implies a process of growth, a feeling and in- 
ward experience. 

If one who has lived a moral life and developed a 
moral nature does a wrong to his neighbor, an im- 
pression is made upon his intellect which no mere 
intellectual act of repentance can destroy. As long 
as he fails to do right, he will have no rest or peace. 
Only by making satisfactory restitution can he again 
enjoy satisfaction and contentment. 

THE EXPLANATION OF CHRIST'S INFLUENCE. 

In the time of Christ, the condition of humanity 
was such that any moral individual must be affected 
with a feeling of sympathy and a desire to benefit 
the human race. Christ's parents were undoubtedly 
moral people, who early gave him moral instruction, 
He was thus enabled to combine the moral with the 
intellectual in action in early life. The moral dis- 
position, which is God's nature in man, gradually 
grew in him, and he became strong. His interest 
in humanity led him to devote his life to moral de- 



58 
velopment, and to give but little attention to intel- 
lectual culture. I take him to have been one of 
those apt students who are capable of developing 
rapidly. His profound moral convictions gave him 
great strength and sympathy for humanity. His 
early instruction in morality advanced him beyond 
all others in the line of moral development. His 
earnest teaching was not acceptable to the people of 
that age, and led to controversies which resulted in 
his crucifixion. 

This view of Christ's character and work gives us 
a clue for the separation of the true from the false 
in the gospel narratives. That portion of his teach- 
ing, as there set forth, which corresponds with his 
personal acts in behalf of humanity, we may regard 
as authentic. All the remaining features in the tra- 
dition belong to the intellectual part of the narra- 
tive, and doubtless contain more or less of error. 
Doubtless Christ conformed to many of the ideas 
and practices of his time in which he had but little 
interest. In some cases this may have been obliga 
tory ; in others the natural result of education, and 
prevalent beliefs. But in any case, such acts and 
ideas belong wholly to the intellectual nature, and 
constitute no part of the moral development which 
was the great feature in his life and work. 



59 



CONSCIENCE AND THE MORAL NATURE. 

In formulating the moral qualities, the child or 
person develops knowledge of good and evil and 
conscience or the moral sense. These become in- 
stinctive and are what I term inspirations. A con- 
tinuous effort to develop the moral qualities and 
obey their commands will cause a disposition to 
grow not only to love the riglit, but to do it. This 
disposition is God's moral nature in man. Further 
exercise of this disposition will create a spontaneous 
desire to do good, and its practice will develop God's 
spiritual nature in man. 

In the development of the moral qualities the 
mind continually makes use of the intellectual qual- 
ities in formulating decisions upon the questions 
brought before it. Each decision makes a new im- 
pression on the intellect. This process at last be- 
comes spontaneous and automatic, resulting in an 
intuition or inspiration of consciousnes, as well as 
of conscience. When this is accomplished, the in- 
tellectual part of the process is no longer necessary. 
The moral nature or conscience thereafter responds 
directly and spontaneously whenever a question 
arises for its decision. 



6o 



INTELLECT AND MORALS. 

When the parents commence to educate the moral 
nature of the child, they are consciously working 
toward this end from the moral side, while the child 
at first regards the efforts which he makes wholly 
from the intellectual side. But when the child be- 
gins to put in practice what the parents have taught 
it, it is then consciously working from the moral 
side. All persons who teach and labor for the right 
and for humanity, are on'the moral side. Those who 
receive that instruction are on the intellectual side, 
because it is through their intellectual natures that 
they at first receive these instructions. This pre- 
pares them for labor in carrying such instructions 
into effect, and labor for the right belongs to the 
moral side, because it tends to the betterment of hu- 
manity. 

EXPERIENCE IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Experience is a natural part of man's instruction 
in right doing. He knows by experience that when 
he practices right doing, he encourages the building 
up of a disposition to do right and good. These dis- 
positions grow stronger as they are exercised, and 
enable the person to overcome the animal propensi- 
ties, and develop a higher and nobler character. 



6i 

The more perfectly he succeeds in forming such a 
character, the fewer are the evil deeds which are 
stored up in his book of remembrance. Thus his 
burdens, from day to day, are made less, and his en- 
couragements toward the higher life become greater. 

To do right means moral development. To do 
good means spiritual development. And both the 
moral and spiritual natures are cultivated by all 
exertions which tend to build up humanity. 

MAN MUST MAKE AN EFFORT. 

We must not forget, however, that a positive effort 
is necessary at every step of the way, in order to se- 
cure the development of the moral and spiritual na- 
tures. It is only when the eager disposition to gain 
knowledge begins to develop in the child that he 
makes real progress in this direction. If a person 
trusts to chance, and fails to make a positive effort, 
he cannot succeed, intellectually, morally or spiritu- 
ally. 

MORAL AND SPIRITUAL LAWS. 

The law of man's intellectual development com- 
prises two principal factors. One is the receiving 
of the impressions on the intellect, and the other is 
the inspiration of knowledge from person to person. 



62 

This law is preparatory and suggestive of the law 
for the development of man's moral and spiritual 
natures. 

The law of man's moral and spiritual development 
also comprises two principal factors. One is the de- 
velopment of a growing disposition to do right, the 
other of a growing disposition to do good. These 
dispositions are only developed by the practice of 
doing right and good, in all our relations with our 
fellow men. 

The development of the moral and spiritual na- 
tures in man, demonstrates two things to my mind : 
i st, it gives evidence that there is something still 
higher and nobler to aspire to beyond the bounda- 
ries of this life ; 2d, if this be so, it also indicates 
that the gradual development commenced in this 
life does not terminate w r hen the separation from 
the temporal body takes place. The spiritual organ- 
ism will still live, and the growth of the moral and 
spiritual natures will continue. If this is in reality 
the development of God's nature in man, of which I 
have no doubt, we already have the assurance in this 
life that we are a part of the divine nature. 



63 



THE PROCESS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT REVIEWED. 

Let us now briefly review and reinforce the prin- 
ciples which have been already laid down. 

The temporal man, as we have seen, has a work 
to do in developing the moral qualities. It furnish- 
es that opposing force which compels an active 
exercise of the moral nature, and thus enables it to 
develop and increase in strength. The mind, with 
the aid of the moral qualities, makes the decision for 
right or wrong. When a child does a wrong act, and 
the parent knows it, the parent will say: "You must 
not do so ; that is wrong." In so doing, the parent 
bestows his standard of morality upon the child. 
The child absorbs it, or is inspired by it. The 
moral sense infuses the intellectual qualities, and 
establishes in them the parent's instructions. In 
every instance, the parent or person under whose 
guidance the child is placed, must take the part of 
the moral sense and instruct the inner man before 
the child can make an independent decision as to 
right and wrong. In making such a decision, the 
mind and moral qualities are in communication, and 
the decision is the result of their combined activity. 
As soon as some situation arises which presents the 
possibility of two different courses of action, the 



6 4 

mind will reflect thereon. It will compare, and 
weigh the arguments, pro and con, and make the 
decision. The decisions so made constitute our 
standard of morality. Imperfect as they are, they 
are our only standard until experience leads us to 
something better or higher. After decisions are 
made as above described, and the knowledge thereof 
is established in the intellectual qualities, they be- 
come, as I say, the moral qualities developed. They 
constitute a guide by following which the child or 
person may develop a moral nature. If so guided in 
practice from day to day, the moral nature will 
gradually increase in strength, and the disposition 
to do right will control the actions of the temporal 
man. The greater the strength of the moral nature 
the greater will be its influence over the mind to 
direct the temporal man in opposition to wrong 
doing. 

CONSCIENCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS. 

Conscience is an inspiration of knowledge con- 
cerning what is right, and it is developed by the 
formation of the moral qualities in right action. 
Conscience stands in the same relation to moral de- 
velopment that consciousness does to the intellectu- 
al development. Consciousness implies intellectual 
knowledge. Conscience implies moral knowledge. 



65 
This indicates that both consciousness and con- 
science belong exclusively to man, and are parts of 
his nature. 

If God dictated directly to man, from his youth to 
the end of his life, infallible rules for the guidance 
of his conduct, by what is called conscience, it would 
be an easy matter for him to do his duty. If every 
time man did a w r rong to his neighbor, God instant- 
ly and clearly showed him that it was a wrong, he 
could go on from step to step through life, receiving 
guidance from without and never developing the 
moral quality in his own nature. Experience teach- 
es us that man does nbt receive any such infallible 
guidance from God. It teaches that man must be 
educated and learn to know what a wrong is before 
his conscience will impel him to avoid it. 

If we take a young child before it has learned 
from its parents or teachers, or through its own ex- 
perience what is right or wrong, there is not a shad- 
ow of evidence that it possesses a conscience. After 
it has been educated and knows something about the 
nature of good and evil, it is then prepared to devel- 
op a conscience. 

CONSCIENCE NOT INFALLIBLE. 

Theologians speak of conscience as the voice of 



66 
God, but it is evident from what we learn from na- 
ture's inevitable laws that this is not the fact. If 
God dictated directly to man by means of an infalli- 
ble conscience, concerning matters pertaining to 
man's relations with God, this would be evidence 
that a wrong thus done would be a sin against God. 
Experience teaches us, however, that there is no 
such infallible dictation. 

On the other hand, experience also teaches that 
our conceptions of moral obligation are the result 
of education ; for we have no knowledge of what is 
right or wrong until we are educated. When we 
thus come to know w T hat a wfbng is, we have a con- 
science. This conscience dictates to us whenever we 
commit a w r rong against ourselves or against human- 
ity. This proves that the sphere of conscience re- 
lates to the affairs which arise between man and 
man, and has no reference to the relations between 
God and man. 

Conscience is indeed an inspiration or intuition. 
It does not come directly from God, however, but 
through the divine nature which is manifested in 
human society. It is made known to the individual 
through self-consciousness, as soon as he has receiv- 
ed an impression from a moral quality. 



6 7 
The moral nature always impels man to do right 
— never to do wrong ; but the dictates of conscience 
are not infallible. They act only in accordance with 
the standards of right and wrong which have been 
established in the mind by education. The general 
belief appears to be that conscience dictates to us 
infallibly what is right and w r hat is wrong. All 
people who have been brought up by moral parents 
have within them a sense of right and wrong which 
is called conscience. When they are tempted to do 
an act which does not agree with their education, or 
when they see another do such an act, they will say 
"that is not right." It is their conscience, apparent- 
ly, that so dictates. This dictation is governed by 
the want of agreement between the act in question 
and the standard of right, which is the result of 
their previous moral education. Conscience, there- 
fore, simply expresses the decision of the moral 
qualities. The development of the moral qualities 
results in the acquisition of spiritual knowledge. 
This spiritual knowledge is the result of an educated 
conscience. Just so far as the inner man has devel- 
oped its moral qualities, thus far is the conscience 
educated. As soon as a child is capable of under- 
standing the instructions of its parents, or the decis 
ions which they make for it as to right and wrong, 
the moral qualities will begin to develop, and con- 



68 
science will develop along with the increasing 
strength of the moral qualities. 

INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL MISTAKES. 

Intellectually man makes many mistakes. These 
mistakes cause him pain and sorrow ; the pains thus 
caused by losses, negligence, sickness, and many 
other things, impede man's progress. But on the 
other hand, it is by means of such experiences that 
he learns how to do better, and avoid suffering in 
the future. After man has obtained this knowledge 
and is on the way to prosperity, the pains and sor- 
rows of his past experience will gradually disappear. 
The memory of them remains, but does not give 
him any pain. This shows that the purpose of such 
suffering is educational, and that the pains resulting 
from our intellectual mistakes are relieved when we 
have profited by their teaching. 

Morally, man also makes many mistakes and does 
many wrongs. This also brings pain and sorrow. 
When man does a wrong to his neighbor conscious- 
ly, experience teaches him that it causes pain and 
makes him unhappy until he makes amends for the 
wrong. When he has made satisfactory restitution 
he feels relieved and is happy. The impressions 
made by the wrong act still remain, but do not give 



6 9 

him any pain. This furnishes evidence that moral 
evil is the natural result of man's own actions, and 
the cure can be brought about without asking God's 
personal aid or interference. 

If a man does a wrong to his neighbor and his 
neighbor should pass away before he had made 
amends for that wrong, can he find any relief for the 
pains he has thus brought upon himself? Will 
prayer or penance or anything which he can do in 
the way of religious expiation take away that pain ? 
Experience says "No," This furnishes evidence that 
morality is not a matter between God and man, but 
between man and his fellow man. If God would 
wipe away those pains, sorrows and impressions for 
which man cannot make amends, this would demon- 
strate his ability and willingness to do for man what 
he cannot do for himself, but this he does not do. 

Again, how often does a man do a wrong to his 
neighbor unconsciously. Days, weeks, or months, 
even, may pass away before he becomes conscious 
of the wrong which he has done. Such wrongs are 
finally revealed to him by man and not by God. If 
God communicated directly to man through an in- 
fallible conscience, he would have known of the 
wrong when it was committed. Experience teaches 
that we have no such infallible way of discovering 



the wrongs that we commit. This is evidence that 
moral evil is not a wrong against God, but only 
against man. Man must be educated and know 
what a wrong is before conscience will dictate to 
him what he ought to do. If God dictated directly 
to man by what is called a conscience, there would 
be no need of education to discover what a wrong is. 
There is not a shadow of evidence that a man does 
a wrong against God, or that God interferes with 
man's acts. Experience also teaches that man puts 
burdens on himself by his wrong doing He cannot 
shift them upon any other person. We have the 
most positive evidence that man does injure himself 
mentally, morally and physically, by wrongs com- 
mitted against himself or his fellow men. 

THE TEMPORAL MAN'S POWER AND WILL. 

That power in the temporal man which enables 
him to move and act as he wills, is distributed 
through all parts of his organism, and responds at 
all times as the mind directs. This power in the 
physical organism may be compared to that of steam 
stored in a boiler under pressure, and lying dormant 
until required for use. I am persuaded that the 
power that registers and enforces the commands of 
the will does not proceed from the inner man. The 



7i 
will's function in human action is in connection with 
the mind and the muscular organism of the temporal 
man. The will's activity is always exercised over 
the power of the temporal man, impelling him to do 
or not to do as it directs. For example, when the 
mind instructs the temporal man to go to a certain 
place at a certain time, he will obey. The word 
"will" simply expresses his willingness or inclina- 
tion to obey the mind. The will is not something 
independent of the mind which guides the actions 
of the temporal man. When the time comes for him 
to go, the mind directs the temporal power to move 
and it moves 

Again, let us consider the case of a man who has 
"lost his mind," as we say, — whose brain, from some 
cause, is diseased, so that the mind or inner man 
cannot control its action or that of the physical or- 
ganism. Otherwise, the man maybe in good bodily 
health. Everything may be normal except the brain, 
which is the mind's organ. He has power to move 
from place to place. His condition may be compar- 
ed to that of a steamboat in mid-stream when the 
pilot has taken his hand from the wheel. The boat 
drifts from place to place. No man can calculate its 
movements or tell where it will land. Just as soon 
as the pilot resumes his place at the wheel, the order 



72 

is restored, and the boat moves as he directs. So 
the temporal man when the brain is diseased has 
power to move from place to place, without definite 
purpose, not knowing where he is going or where 
he will stop. He has nothing to guide or direct him: 

As soon as his brain returns to a normal state the 
mind or inner man will again begin to communicate 
with it, and to direct what the temporal man shall 
do. During the time while the temporal man is 
in this abnormal condition, he has no perceptible 
will power to direct him. This would indicate that 
the w T ill belongs exclusively to the mind, and is not 
connected with the intellectual qualities or any other 
part of the inner man except through the mind. 
If it were otherwise, the will would not lose its 
power so completely during the time when the brain 
is affected. It would undoubtedly have developed 
some activity under those circumstances. This con- 
vinces me that there is no power attached to the will 
as a separate entity or faculty independent of the 
mind. If the will has any power, it is, simply to ex- 
press and enforce the mind's decisions. • The condi- 
tion of the temporal man, as above described, also 
convinces me that the mind or inner man is the 
power which directs the temporal man to move and 
act. 



73 



MAN S INTELLECTUAL NATURE. 

The intellectual and physical parts of man's na- 
ture have their own proper methods of action — their 
own laws of right and wrong — as well as his moral 
part. There is no evidence that the intellect will 
lead man to do wrong unless it is influenced by the 
animal nature. This indicates that the intellect is 
a natural endowment of God in nature. When man 
is in health and has nothing to disturb him, his in- 
clinations are naturally to do right. He follows 
these inclinations peacefully until something dis- 
turbs him which arouses his animal propensities. 
While these propensities are aroused and active, his 
temptation to wrong will continue ; but when the 
animal passions are exhausted, he will return to his 
normal state wherein his intellectual impulses lead 
him to do right. 

god's nature in man. 

The development of God's nature in man causes 
him to put away selfishness, makes the doing of 
right spontaneous, creates a disposition to love to do 
right and to reach out to help humanity. It causes 
him to become sympathetic, develops kindness and 
the desire to do good. Developed in the intellectual 



74 
part of man, God's nature not only gives rise to the 
disposition to acquire knowledge but in other ways 
to perfect the life of the inner man. 

Take, for example, a child who has no knowledge 
of the meaning of the word "kindness;" but is old 
enough to be taught. Its parents may then show it 
by acts and explanations what kindness is. It may 
then do kindly acts to others because of its disposi- 
tion to obey the instructions of its parents, though 
it may know nothing of the state of feeling and in- 
clination which is created by doing acts of kindness. 
After the quality of kindness has thus been develop- 
ed, a consciousness of its true nature has also arisen 
in the child's mind, and he then knows what kind- 
ness really is. By practicing kindly acts, a disposi- 
tion will be developed to love this practice. This 
disposition is also God's nature in man. 

Thus, as the child's nature develops intellectually, 
God's nature grows within him and creates a dispo- 
sition that speaks to the child and says, "Seek for 
knowledge." As he develops morally, God's nature 
also grows within him and creates a disposition that 
speaks to the child and says, "Do right to humanity." 
As he develops spiritually, God's nature likewise 
grows within him and creates a disposition which 
says, "Do good to all mankind." 



75 



The tendency has been among all nations of the 
earth toward the uplifting of the race to a common 
level of moral and spiritual life, toward the steady 
upbuilding of humanity. Great changes have taken 
place since the earliest periods known to man in the 
ways by which the accomplishment of this result has 
been attempted. At first it was thought necessary 
to placate God or the gods by worship or ceremonial 
observances, and thus secure their aid for the im- 
provement of human conditions. But thinking men 
in early ages learned at last by experience that some- 
thing more was required of them than mere conform- 
ance to formalities. Gradually man has learned 
to depend less and less on ceremonies and formal 
worship and more and more on laboring for the wel- 
fare of his fellow men. When he first began to 
perceive this fact, he commenced to combine the 
moral with the intellectual qualities. In advancing 
from merely intellectual to moral motives, he learns 
that intellectual theories and formalities are of no 
use in moral development. Progress in moral and 
spiritual evolution gives man greater interest in hu- 
manity. At last we have come to see that only by 
laboring for the welfare of others, can man develop 
his own moral nature. During the present century, 
great changes have taken place — particularly during 



7 6 

the last fifty years — tending to bring the people of 
different churches and modes- of belief in greater 
accord. How the walls of separation have crumbled 
down, and the causes of contention have passed 
away. How much less importance is placed on the- 
ories, forms and formalities in religion, and how 
much more on moral and spiritual development. 
People are gradually uniting in obedience to the 
inevitable moral and spiritual laws. Intellectual 
development results in a growing diversity of opin- 
ion : but moral development gives the same disposi- 
tion to all who live a moral and spiritual life — the 
disposition to do that which is right and good to 
their fellow men. Every man, from his youth up, 
has to labor. Experiencing the benefit of this labor, 
he sees how it may be applied to the development 
of his moral nature by directing it to the benefit of 
his fellow creatures. This is real experimental reli- 
gion, and it is my belief that this is the highest form 
in which the religious sentiment has ever manifest- 
ed itself. 

LIGHT AND LIFE IN MAN. 

There are two things which give man more posi- 
tive evidence that God constitutes the life and light 
of nature than all others. First, the capacity of 
man's intellectual nature is much greater than would 



77 
be necessary merely to supply the demands of his 
temporal life. He possesses an innumerable num- 
ber of intellectual qualities which are never devel- 
oped in this life. This constitutes a promise and a 
prophecy of further development in the life to come. 
God's creation, so far as we know, is perfect in every 
respect. He does not make one thing perfect and 
another imperfect. He does not give to one part of 
his creation the opportunity for a full use and de- 
velopment of all parts of its nature and deny this to 
another part. The light that is undeveloped in this 
life, therefore, gives assurance to man of opportuni- 
ties for further development in the life beyond. 

Secondly, the evidence of the growth of God's na- 
ture in man in the present life is promise that this 
growth will continue hereafter. There is no evi- 
dence that man's higher dispositions,' which are God's 
nature in him, dwindle and decay with the failure 
of the physical powers. If they were temporal, and 
had in view only the achievement of temporal ends, 
they would lessen as the temporal body approaches 
the end of its existence ; for the weaker the tempor- 
al body grows, the less sustenance it furnishes for 
the exercise of its faculties and functions. On the 
other hand, a man who has lived a true and noble 
life has evidence as he draws near the end of a ripe 



78 
old age, that his better dispositions strengthen with 
the added years. Even if his career should close 
with a long sickness and steady dwindling of the 
physical powers, the same thing is true. God's 
nature continues strong in his higher faculties and 
dispositions to the end. This shows conclusively 
that these dispositions do not spring from the tem- 
poral body, but from what I have called the spiritu- 
al body, or God in nature. 

THE DUTY OF MAN. 

When God created man and placed him here on 
earth, it was evidently for some wise purpose. He 
gave him life, and also the germ or seed of his spir- 
itual nature, out of which develops the spiritual bo- 
dy. God gave him power, and by calling to his aid 
all the faculties of the inner or spiritual nature he 
can develop his intellectual, moral and spiritual 
qualities. God has also made man a free agent, ca- 
pable of forming judgments for himself, and acting 
in accordance therewith. Man has been provided 
with everything necessary wherewith to maintain 
himself, and perform his duty during life. In return 
for these beneficent gifts, God wants man to do 
something for himself — to earn his daily bread, and 
to build up his intellectual, moral and spiritual qual- 



79 
ities. The first is not a matter of choice, but of com- 
pulsion. The development of the higher nature is, 
however, largely a matter of free choice. 

BUILDING UP HUMANITY. 

In building up humanity man must draw help and 
inspiration from the Bible or any other history, from 
man himself, or the spirit of humanity, which is not 
limited to any single individual or race or sacred 
book. The first thing for the individual to do is to 
educate himself and ascertain what is required of 
him. Then he must put this knowledge in practice 
in his relations with his fellow creatures. Every- 
thing which aids man to build up humanity, is a 
moral quality in his nature. Every act done by man 
for the benefit of the race is a moral act. This de- 
monstrates that man builds up his own moral and 
spiritual nature by striving to uplift and benefit his 
fellow men. 

There is a certain law, therefore, created by God 
for the upbuilding of humanity. This is the su- 
preme law of right, known as the moral and spiritu- 
al law of man's being. It is not only the privilege 
but the duty of every man to aid in the betterment 
of the human race, for the reason that it is a funda- 
mental law created by God which impels him to such 



So 

action, and its neglect or disobedience results in his 
own injury and loss. 

Anything which man draws from the Bible, or 
any history or department of literature, or from di- 
rect contact with men, which will aid him in this 
service of the race, is from God : and the fact that 
it does so aid him is sufficient evidence of its divine 
origin. 

I am persuaded that God is infinitely superior to 
all desires that man should serve him personally by 
prayer or worship. He wants man to render service 
to his fellow-creatures ; and in doing his duty toward 
himself and his fellow men, he renders the truest 
service to God, and fulfills the end for which he was 
created. 

This service includes obedience to the physical as 
well as the moral and spiritual laws of his nature ; 
for it is evident that when he violates any of these 
laws both the temporal and spiritual bodies are af- 
fected. The violation of physical laws results in the 
decay of the physical powers, and upon these pow- 
ers, in part, depends our ability to help and serve 
others. On the other hand, the violation of moral 
laws reacts in evil effects upon the physical body. 
This shows beyond a doubt that man is governed by 
all these laws, for better or worse, and that only by 



8i 
obedience to them all, can he develop the highest 
capacities of his manhood. 

Moral experience teaches man that duty involves 
a larger view than that of working for his own self- 
ish interests. It teaches him that if he will do his 
duty toward his neighbor, he must take into consid- 
eration his neighbor's interests as well as his own. 
He must educate himself, and learn what is right 
between man and man. This he must practice in 
all his transactions. 

THE STORY OF THE FALL OF MAN. 

In the first chapter of Genesis we find an account 
or tradition of the way in which man was created, 
and of the origin of good and evil. 

"God said, let us make man in our own image, 
after our own likeness. God created man in his own 
image ; in the image of God created he him, male 
and female created he them. God formed man of 
the dust of the ground ; he breathed into his nos- 
trils the breath of life, and man became a living 
soul." 

This would appear to indicate that God perfected 
the physical man before he breathed the breath of 
life into him, or endowed him with his higher spirit. 
The question is, looking at the story rationally, Did 



82 

God create anger, the passions and the appetites in 
man originally, when he first became a living soul, 
or was he, as some suppose, created a perfect being, 
developing the lower instincts only after he ate the 
forbidden fruit ? The former conception seems to 
me the most reasonable. If the passions and appe- 
tites were originally created in man, and with them 
the capacity for developing the higher intellectual, 
moral and spiritual faculties to guide and control the 
animal nature, then God's creation was perfect and 
the story of Adam's Fall must be regarded as myth- 
ical and unreal. There was no height of superior 
attainment for him to fall from. The experience of 
the first man could only have been that to which all 
men are subjected daily ; the transgressions of the 
physical, moral and spiritual laws of his nature, and 
consequent suffering of the penalty of such trans- 
gressions. 

On the other hand, if the first man was created 
perfect, without the animal passions and appetites, 
the subsequent reception of these animal tendencies 
might be regarded as a fall. Would this be consist- 
ent with what we know of man's nature, and with 
our conception of God as a perfect being ? This idea 
seems to involve us in a tissue of contradictory and 
unnatural assumptions. 






83 
If Adam fell, as tradition declares, and all poster- 
ity inherited his sin, the result of which could only 
be removed by the suffering and death of Christ, 
the question arises, what became of all the people 
who lived between the time of Adam and that of 
Christ ? Can it be possible that they were all lost ? 
And what will become of the people who are living 
to-day and who have lived since the time of Christ, 
and who knew nothing of him or the conditions of 
redemption ? The tradition also declares that Christ 
existed before the world began : yet he did not make 
his appearance until about nineteen hundred years 
ago. Was God's creation and plan for human re- 
demption so imperfect that he could not bring 
Christ into the world earlier, but must needs let all 
these people go their way to destruction ? 

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 

How many of Christ's teachings, as given in the 
New Testament tradition, are correctly reported, we 
do not know. But we have abundant evidence that 
following the example of Christ, and exercising all 
our powers, as he did, in the service of humanity, 
will develop the moral and spiritual natures in man. 
This gives to every man the assurance that in doing 
what is right and good for himself and mankind, he 
is doing precisely what Christ did for humanity. 



8 4 

We are justified, I think, in regarding Christ as 
the greatest moral and spiritual teacher which the 
world has yet seen. There have been many intel- 
lectual teachers since his day, who have had but a 
small proportion of moral and spiritual development 
as compared with him. There is no evidence that 
Christ possessed a superior intellectual development. 
The evidence, in fact, is just the opposite. This 
gives assurance that the perfection of character does 
not depend upon mere intellectual attainments. 
This is not essential to the development of the moral 
and spiritual natures of man. 

CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. 

This view of Christ's influence and example will 
not permit us to accept the usual theological concep- 
tion that Christ suffered for the sins of humanity. 
I am persuaded that his sufferings were sympathet- 
ic : they were caused by the sufferings of humanity, 
which he saw everywhere around him. It gave him 
pain and sorrow to see and know the misery which 
existed among the people of that day. Any person 
who becomes deeply interested in the welfare of hu- 
manity and whose whole soul is devoted to moral 
and spiritual development, as his was, can only real- 
ize the nature and depth of his suffering. This deep 



85 
sympathy with the ills and sufferings of human na- 
ture, can only come from the development of the 
moral and spiritual natures in the service of others. 

THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH. 

The soil of the earth consists of various ingredi- 
ents which have been prepared in nature's laborato- 
ry to be absorbed by vegetation, and thus produce 
the various kinds of plants, trees, grains, grasses, 
etc., which we see around us. Out of the same soil 
grow plants of various kinds and textures, some with 
soft stems, some with hard, and of a wonderful vari- 
ety of shapes, sizes and specific natures. Each kind 
absorbs from the soil that particular kind of material 
which it needs for its own nourishment and growth. 
In a similar way, as I conceive it, the spirit of God 
is related to the spiritual nature of man. 

SPIRITUAL ABSORPTION. 

Vegetation absorbs the sustenance for building up 
the plant or tree from the soil. After the nutritious 
elements are absorbed through the roots, thej r are 
ready to be assimilated by the various parts of the 
vegetable organism. It requires no direct supernat- 
ural aid to distribute to each part the sustenance 
which it needs. When food is digested by men or 



86 
animals, it is then distributed and absorbed by the 
various bodily organs and tissues, according to their 
several needs, by a wholly natural process. God does 
not interfere with the operations of nature, and per- 
sonally dictate that so much nourishment shall go to 
the muscular tissues, so much to the bones, and so 
much to the brain and nerves. The organism is al- 
ready so constructed that it will make its own selec- 
tion, and appropriate to each part according to its 
needs, without any such special dictation or interfer- 
ence. So, by his method in creation, God reveals to 
us how the processes of growth are carried forward. 
As it is in the vegetable and animal worlds, so it 
must be in the spiritual nature of man. It cannot 
be possible that God should change his whole 
method of procedure in supplying the spirit to the 
inner man. He does not do this by piece-meal — or 
by special acts of supernatural interference. Like 
all other processes of growth, spiritual development 
takes place naturally, in accordance with the laws of 
absorption and supply. The notion of special dicta- 
tion or interference belittles our idea of the divine 
nature. In my judgment, God lives far above this. 
His creation is too perfect to need such intervention. 
He so demonstrates to us by the operation of his 
laws in the physical, vegetable and animal worlds. 
My conclusion is, therefore, that man is placed in 



87 
this world to work out his own salvation, and that 
according to his acts will be his reward. Infinite 
opportunities are spread before him, and in them is 
promise of eternal progression. 



HOW GOD S NATURE SPEAKS TO MAN. 

As man progresses through life, he will discover 
that the condition necessary for the elevation of 
himself and the benefit of humanity, is conformity 
to many inevitable and inviolable laws of nature. 
There are some of these laws which speak so dis- 
tinctly to man that their language can hardly be 
misinterpreted. 

i st. The Laws of the Physical Body. 

When man permits himself to be controlled by 
his animal nature and eats and drinks to excess, he 
transgresses an inevitable law pertaining to his phy- 
sical body and causes it to decay or become diseased. 
In experiencing the effects of this transgression, an 
impression is made on his intellect and an inspira- 
tion which renders him conscious of the injurious 
nature of the act, and of the cause of the transgres- 
sion. This is what I call the development of an in- 
tellectual quality. When the temptation to repeat 
the act again occurs to him, he will say, "This act 



88 
will violate the inevitable law of my physical nature. 
This I must not do." 

If man will take an interest in perfecting his phy- 
sical organism ; if he will study it and acquaint him- 
self with it, and put what he thus learns in practice, 
he will be assured a healthy body and a pleasant 
life. These results will be evidence that he has not 
violated the inevitable laws of his physical body. 

2d. The Laws of the Intellect. 

In like manner, any person who will take an in- 
terest in studying the laws of his intellectual devel- 
opment, and put them in daily practice, will then 
be prepared to do his duty through life. This exer- 
cise will give him an experience which will give him 
confidence in his ability to improve his intellectual 
nature, if he will exert himself to that end. On the 
other hand, if he takes no interest in developing this 
part of his nature, it will remain undeveloped. 

3rd. The Inevitable Laws pertaining to Intellec- 
tual Right and Wrong. 

If a man will thus educate himself in heeding the 
lessons of experience, he will become conscious of 
the nature of an act which is intellectually right, 
and also of that which is intellectually wrong. This 



8 9 
consciousness and accompanying inspiration will 
dictate to him, commanding him to do the right and 
avoid the wrong. 

4th. The inevitable Law pertaining to Moral De- 
velopment. 

In the same way, after the person has developed 
moral qualities, and the capacity to perform moral 
actions, conscience will dictate to him when any ques- 
tion of duty arises between himself and his fellow- 
beings, and tell him which course of action is right 
and which is wrong, as far as he is educated and en- 
abled properly to appreciate the results of his actions, 

The moral and spiritual natures are a growth and 
speak to man by an inward feeling or disposition. 
The moral nature thus gives man that feeling or 
disposition which impels him to resist all wrong-do- 
ing and approve all right-doing between man and 
man. 

The spiritual nature gives man the feeling or dis- 
position to do good. 

After man has thus learned the nature of these 
inevitable laws, he will find that they speak to him 
daily and tell him what he ought and otight not to 
do. By conforming to what they say, he will expe- 



9 o 
rience an assurance that he is living a better and 
nobler life, and that the satisfaction of living may 
be his from day to day, and is not something which 
he needs to hope for and wait for in an unknown 
future. The inevitable laws of life thus become, as 
it were, a conscience to man ; they are God in nature 
dictating to him. 

CONCLUSION. 

Finally, I would say, as a result of my experience 
and observation, that the supreme duty imposed up- 
on us by God is to develop the intellectual part of 
man, and thus prepare for building up the moral 
and spiritual qualities of his nature. These quali- 
ties are the only ones, so far as I can see, that must 
be developed in order to elevate humanity. After 
we are prepared to build up these qualities, our ad- 
ditional duty is wholly a practical one. We must 
constantly exercise our moral nature in doing right, 
and our spiritual nature in doing good. So doing, 
man will have obeyed the whole law of God, and he 
may confidently and calmly await the issues of life 
and death. 



Spiritual ^Evolution : 



1bow Ibumantt^ 10 Developed by ©bebience 
to Inevitable Xam 



REVISED EDITION 

BY S. W. FRANCE 



NEW YORK : 

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